Battle for Texas: Democrats Pour Millions into High-Stakes Senate Showdown
Democratic forces are mounting an aggressive final offensive in the Texas Senate race, where Rep. Colin Allred is challenging incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in what is quickly becoming one of 2024’s most closely watched contests.
New polling puts Allred in close proximity to Cruz, leading major Democratic groups to allocate significant resources to the race. The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC just announced a $5 million television ad buy across Texas’s major media markets, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already invested $13 million in TV advertising with “several million more” planned for the campaign’s final stretch.
The Money Game
Allred’s fundraising prowess has turned heads in political circles. His campaign has pulled in more than $80 million to date, including an eye-popping $11 million in just 16 days this October.
While these numbers are impressive, veteran political observers note that Texas’s vast size and numerous media markets make this a uniquely expensive battleground.
Joshua Blank, the director of the Texas Politics Project, explains, “The reality is that when you look out into the state of Texas and start adding up the voters, there just tend to be more Republican voters than Democratic voters.” Yet Democrats see an opening, particularly given Cruz’s polarizing national profile.
The abortion factor
The Democratic strategy has zeroed in on abortion rights as a key issue. Senate Majority PAC’s new advertising campaign features an emergency physician discussing Texas’s strict abortion laws, directly challenging Cruz’s stance on the issue. Allred has consistently hammered Cruz on this topic, particularly highlighting the senator’s support for abortion bans without clear exceptions.
A Tale of Two Campaigns
The contrast between the candidates couldn’t be starker. Allred is positioning himself as a bipartisan problem solver while working to remind voters of controversial moments in Cruz’s tenure—particularly his trip to Cancún during Texas’s devastating winter storm crisis. Cruz, meanwhile, has tried to tie Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris, declaring, “Colin Allred is Kamala Harris.”
The National Stakes
For Democrats, Texas represents a rare pickup opportunity in a challenging Senate map. With incumbent Democratic senators facing tough races in Montana and Ohio, flipping Texas could be crucial for maintaining control of the chamber.
The party hasn’t won a statewide race in Texas for three decades, but recent elections have shown the gap narrowing—Trump won the state by just 6 points in 2020.
The Cruz Factor
Interestingly, Cruz has publicly complained about a lack of support from Senate Republican leadership, particularly from Mitch McConnell’s aligned superPAC. This tension reflects long-standing friction between Cruz and McConnell, dating back to Cruz calling McConnell a “liar” on the Senate floor in 2015.
Looking Ahead
Both campaigns are making every effort as early voting commences. While Cruz intensifies his grassroots outreach, Vice President Harris plans to rally with Allred in Houston. The race’s outcome could not only determine control of the Senate but also signal whether Texas’s gradual drift toward competitive territory has accelerated.
For Texas voters, the choice is clear: Allred’s promise of bipartisan cooperation versus Cruz’s established conservative record. As one Democratic state representative put it, this could be “our best chance in years to win a Senate seat in Texas.”
The next two weeks will test whether Democrats’ last-minute investment surge can overcome Texas’s Republican lean and whether the party’s long-held dreams of turning Texas blue might finally begin with a Senate seat.
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